April 25, 2008

Okay, kiddies, in this virtual world of e-tag, Elaine Fine poked me with the following meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

In the interest of complete honesty, I have indeed grabbed the nearest book, and here you have it:

“Digital Performer can automatically convert audio data wherever necessary to make it conform to the current project’s sample rate, sample format and tempo. Because processing is initiated automatically and carried out via background processing (for lengthy operations), these auto-conversion features greatly streamline the process of importing audio quickly into your projects, or the process of converting the entire project to a different sample rate, bit depth or tempo. For complete details, see chapter 64, “Automatic Conversions” (page 827).”

Heart wrenching, ain’t it?

For those of you reading this who don’t happen to own digital project studios, welcome to the wacky wired world of the techno-geek composer. You now speak my language, courtesy of the 1,074 page Digital Performer 5 manual that is always within my short arm’s reach.

Good thing Wallace Stevens’ “The Necessary Angel” was on top of my Adobe Audition user manual!:

“It may be that the poet’s congenital subject is precisely the community and other people. If it is not, he may have to ask Shostakovich and Prokofiev and their fellow musicians and such writers as Michael Zoschenko what to do next. These men, who backslide once in so often, should know.”

Glenn Buttkus said,

“The stories get passed on and the truth gets passed over. Which I reckon some would take as meanin that the truth can’t compete. But I don’t believe that–for when the lies are all told and forgot, the truth will be there yet.”

I will send this email to Alex Shapiro, Doug Palmer, David Gilmour, Roger Kuhrt, and Ron Boothe. I was tagged by Ms. Shapiro, and cajoled, and double-dared by the same personage. I guess this is fun. I could not find a poem in your prose today, Alex.

Glenn

Glenn Buttkus said,

Whether by design, or out of glee and playfulness, you have created a posting that is beyond straight forward as prose, and left me no choice but to rummage around in your attic of past postings, searching diligently for something to speak to me. Yes, like Harry Potter who speaks parsel tongue, I have the gift of poetspeak.

I opened up the January 2006, the first month you mounted this earth hugging blog, and I found one of your insights that literally begged me to convert it. As a poetic missionary, I could not deny its soulful plea.

Atlantian Minutia

The tide has pulled out
to a magnificent
soul-baring
minus 1.74,
and the receding water
leaves some
of the ocean’s most
wonderful creatures
exposed
and vulnerable.

The most colorful
are the Ochre Sea Stars,
who pile on top
of each other
in orgiastic glee.

The greenest secret
of this underworld
is the surfgrass,
resulting
in an Oceanic Ireland,
only revealed
a few hours
each month.

The first time
I ever saw
this sight,
I was stunned
by how vibrant
and land-like
these tough masses
of long slippery plants
were.

Like an intimate conversation
with a lover,
who unexpectedly
shares something personal
and heartfelt
about themselves,
it is unspeakably special
to be allowed
to view
the private treasures
which lie beneath
the sea’s shiny,
liquid veneer.

Everything
that can be seen here
is normally
many feet underwater!

There is something
absolutely precious
about being given
the gift of seeing
those usually hidden
aspects
of the sea.

Alex Shapiro January 2006

I was so pleased to have stumbled onto this past observation of yours. It is so You.

Glenn

Glenn Buttkus said,

I guess I have too much free time on my hands this absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning. I was like a little kid. I couldn’t stay out of your attic. I knew there was just one more treasure waiting for me, and my services, there. And lo and behold, there was.

HarpoWalkSolo

Snowy egrets
are pretty solitary
around here,
preferring
to enjoy a meal
on their own
rather than have to
hold up their end
of a conversation
with a dinner partner.

You can spot them
from a long distance;
they’re very conspicuous
since there’s nothing nearby
that is remotely this
Clorox-bleached.

Otherwise
a very graceful bird
topped with
Vegas-style plumage
that would be the envy
of a showgirl—
the elegance ends
at its feet.

They are large,
with skinny webbed toes
painted a bright yellow;
and the only way
to describe
the comical way they walk,
is to envision
Harpo Marx ambulating,
or your choice of one
of the Three Stooges—
pretending to prowl around
and sneak up
on someone;
lifting each foot
with exaggeration,
and gingerly placing it
far ahead of their body.
The minister
of Silly Walks
has another
cabinet member—
eat you heart out,
Monty!

Alex Shapiro 2006

Glenn Buttkus said,

O.K. Glenn has forwarded me something from Alex’s site.
I already did this one a while back, but what the heck?
I’m going to cheat a bit because there are no books handy, so I’m going to go back to my other computer, the snooty one that’s not talking to me and pick a book there.

‘ang on a mo’

O.K. page 123, sentence 5, next 3 sentences.
Unfortunatly, the book is Finnegans Wake, so I’ll have to approximate where sentences start and stop.
Hmmm….
I’ll start at the paragraph;

Duff Mugly, who nowmay be quoted by very kind arrangement (his dectroscophonious phyotosensition under suprasonic lightm controlmay be logged for by our non too distant futures as soon astone values can be turned out from Chromophilomos, Limited at a millicentime the microamp), first called this kind of paddygoeasy partnershipthe ulykkhean or tetrachiric or quad-rumane or ducks and drakes or debts and dishes perplex ( Some Forestallings over that studiumof SexophonologisticSchizophre-nesis, vol xxiv,pp.2-555)

That’s gotta be at least three sentances.
I’m not going to forward this to anyone else.

OOps there’s smoke coming out of my spell-checker, I’d better go

This is quite an esoteric addition to the random book challenge. I don’t know if my other three email contacts will respond or not. This is the kind of thing most people avoid for lent.

Glenn

Barry said,

“In her diary, Marlissa wrote that Freddy owned ‘miles and miles of the stuff.’ He bought waterfront for as little as ten dollars and acre, and seldom more than fifty dollars and acre. Marlissa kept very accurate records.”
Randy Wayne White – Dark Light 2006 Putnam/Penguin
To keep the randomness alive I’m mailing to the five most recent senders of email to me:admins@opensuse.us
receipts@ redboxdvd.net
AT&T Customer Care for Wireless
AT&T Account Managerhbwriterscircle@yahoogroups.com

The latter will enjoy – the writers circle my wife belongs to in Grandview Missouri. I’ve visited on occasion much to my delight. Hearing great writing fresh from the heart is great. I would say that is why I visit this blog as well.

Glenn Buttkus said,

Leave us not forget your musical clip, this SonataScherzo @ 1:42, part of the 16 minute three-part sonata you published to great success in 1997. Webster said,”Scherzo–a sprightly humorous instrumental musical compostion or movement commonly in quick triple time.” Gordon Rumson said, ” tough, tightly controlled motivically in the manner of mid-century composers–but it is also musically tense and expressive. This is the geniune article.” David Cleary said the piece had a “jazz-hued spikiness.” I, of course, adored it, and it led me to try and share my adoration:

Imp’s Romp

Scherzo
is the third piece
in a long sonata,
tinged with
“jazz-hued spikiness”,
something truly
sprightly and humorous,
approaching triple quick
time;
as Alex says smiling,
“an impish romp
through bitonality
that ends
with a laugh.”

I heard
and saw
Nickelodeon days,
interspersed with
Scott Joplin rolls,
early century melodies;
starched white collars,
brightly striped shirts,
with colorful arm bands,
bowlers and straw hats,
thick moustaches,
spats and spit-shine,
ice cream socials,
dressing for church
and still commuting in wagons,
ladies in bonnets,
barber shop quartets;
brown mugs of foamy beer,
speak easys,
juke joints,
jazz and blues parenting
the rolling keys of boogey woogey;
at a time when America
could still laugh,
not seeing the approach
of either the War
to end all wars,
or the angony of Depression.

The fabulous Alex Shapiro tagged me in a meme, so here goes:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

My cubicle is lined with books at the top right corner, and closest to my reach was “When I’m Dead All this will be yours!” – Joe Teller, a portrait by his kid, Teller
Page 123 is a cartoon drawn by his dad with this caption:
The bookies used to meet at the flower stand.

David Gilmour said,

My film-mad bro’, Glenn Buttkus, that vibrant vox poetica in the above comments, sent me your site, Alex, and I will send off the piece to some tags.
I snatched Random House Word Menu, a catalog of definitions, fragments rather than sentences, so I chose by counting down the rubrics. Page 123 is in Part Two of Science and Technology, Chapter 4, The Sciences: Physics: Principles of Mechanics, Waves, and Measurement.

“property”: any measurable aspect of matter
“pulse”: single, nonrepeated disturbance in medium or field
“quantum”: discrete, indivisible, and elemental unit of energy that emits or absorbs waves

I’ll send the link through my e-mail as Glenn did to me. I must get off the Library Computer right now, the Librarian said so. –David

David Gilmour said,

Alex,
I have sent the directions, through address of your site, to several friends: Burk Ketcham (Burk80@juno.com); Valerie Stewart (valntiffstewart@hotmail.com); Robin Mayfield (madamlibrarian@hotmail.com); Stefani and Mohsen Mirghanbari (mirgie@comcast.net).
I wonder if you have a “game” beyond the citations to compose a poem or passage of a story from parts of, or whole sentences from, the comments people have sent you. Some might have the leisure to comply with this cultural, civilized activity. –David